IWSG: April 2025

 It's time again for the first Wednesday blogging event. Thanks to the great admins at IWSG and our founder, Alex J. Cavanaugh, we have a safe place to share our concerns, victories, and ideas. See the entire list here.

This month's optional question: What fantasy character would you like to fight, go on a quest with, or have a beer/glass of wine with?

I always wanted to go through the Stargate to another planet and still haven't forgiven SyFy network or ending that series. But I guess if have to pick a character, I guess I would like to travel with Doctor Who and see all those worlds and universes. There must be so many cool things to see and beings to meet.

Still busy working on the conference stuff. This is always the tense time when deadlines are approaching and so is financial concerns. There is always the worry we'll cover the costs and break even. Even is our goal as a nonprofit. That also means we live on slim margins. It's looking like we're going to eek our way through. Pennwriters Annual Conference is good for another year.

Reacher was violent this year. Really, really bad guys but I found it somewhat predictable. Not sure how I like the new season of Daredevil, but so far, pretty good.

Had a great visit to Troy, NY to spend some time with my daughter and her wife. They have a great farmer's market every Saturday morning. Great food and crafts. They also have one of my favorite bookstores. Bought my granddaughter two books while I was there.

Helped her with some workstuff, though mostly I just carried things. She works at a tough job, emotionally. I couldn't do it everyday like she does.

Where is your fantasy vacation to and who with? Were you a Stargate fan? Is the spring weather drawing you outside? Are bulbs and blossoms adding color to your neck of the woods?

Don't Come Back No More

My daughter and I have the best conversations about books and entertainment when she's home. We both caught up on Doctor Who over the weekend and (SPOILER ALERT) and cried together when Clara Oswald died. Clara has been almost dying or thought to be dead for a while now. We loved her as the Doctor's companion but now she's gone, and because the actress is leaving the show, we know she'll stay gone. Unlike the inability to die of other fictional characters such as many, many of the recurring characters over the yeas in Doctor Who.

I've been a Supernatural fan since the show started ten years or so ago. And I don't want either of the main characters to leave the show, but seriously? Those guys have died so many times and have been brought back along with other members of the cast.

We've all read books or watched movies where a characters dies but then surprise! They're not dead. It was a trick, magic or some intricate plan to fool the enemy. But it doesn't always delight the audience. It has to make sense in some way. In Supernatural, well it's supernatural. There are angels, demons and visits to hell, heaven and everything in between. Anything can happen. But if dead doesn't mean gone, the emotional impact of the loss is not only lessened but lost entirely.

Crime shows fake death all the time. How often is the same trope used? If a writer is going to do this in their book, they must find a way to make it fresh and new. In real life, faking a person's death would not be near so easy so how do writers make it believable? What are the complications? Does it help the reader or viewer connect to characters and does the plot remain believable?

Don't forget, IWSG post time is this Wednesday. We can all bemoan the fact that December is upon us and the end of the year in sight. ALREADY! I'm still shaking my head in amazement at the terrific short stories submitted by this impressive groups of writers for the anthology contest. The entries were awesome!

Can you name another show or book that uses the fake death or return from death trope? Does every crime show use it at least once every season? Perhaps I just want to know how Jon Snow is not dead this season. Are you ready for December?

For cyber Monday, I'm going to order a book online. I have a B&N coupon for 20% off and my daughter has three books on her Christmas list. Are you shopping today?

National Wormhole Day

Thanks to Stephen Tremp and Laura and Luanne at Bards and Prophets for putting together this neat little fantasy jaunt. Each post is a short plan of what you would do if you could step through that wormhole to any place and time. Would you go forward or backward? Would you try to change something?

I guess I've watched too much Doctor Who, but I would be afraid to go back and time to change something. You know changing one little thing in the past could have big repercussions for our present despite how tempting it might be. So I would go to the future.

First of all, I really, really have always wanted to go through the Stargate. I really believe there is life on other worlds and I want to see them. So for my Wormhole day trek, I want to go one thousand years in the future where I can experience some travel to other worlds or at least learn about them. I want to know. And if I pick up the cure for some diseases while I'm there, I'll bring that back too. Perhaps the answer to the world energy needs and a way to end poverty and have world peace. The only way mankind will survive that long is if we've overcome those issues.

So where would you go? Want some ideas? Visit other bloggers for Wormhole Day.